Fuel expenses are one of the major costs encountered by the trucking industry. In recent years, many modifications have been implemented which make trucks more energy efficient. For instance, better fuel efficiency is being attained by implementing more aerodynamic designs which offer a lower coefficient of drag. Improved fuel efficiency can also be attained by designing tires which display less rolling resistance which also improves fuel economy.
In order to reduce the rolling resistance of a tire, rubbers having a high rebound can be utilized in making the tire's treads. Tires made with such rubbers undergo less energy loss during rolling. The traditional problem associated with this approach is that the tire's wet traction and wet skid resistance characteristics are compromised. This is because good rolling resistance which favors low energy loss and good traction characteristics which favor high energy loss are viscoelastically inconsistent properties.
In order to balance these two viscoelastically inconsistent properties, mixtures of various types of synthetic and natural rubber are normally utilized in tire treads. For instance, various mixtures of styrene-butadiene rubber and polybutadiene rubber are commonly used as a rubbery material for automobile tire treads. However, such blends are not totally satisfactory for all purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,120 discloses that tires having improved performance characteristics can be prepared by utilizing rubbery polymers having multiple glass transition temperatures as the tread rubber. These rubbery polymers having multiple glass transition temperatures exhibit a first glass transition temperature which is within the range of about -110.degree. C. to -20.degree. C. and exhibit a second glass transition temperature which is within the range of about -50.degree. C. to 0.degree. C. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,120, these polymers are made by polymerizing at least one conjugated diolefin monomer in a first reaction zone at a temperature and under conditions sufficient to produce a first polymeric segment having a glass transition temperature which is between -110.degree. C. and -20.degree. C. and subsequently continuing said polymerization in a second reaction zone at a temperature and under conditions sufficient to produce a second polymeric segment having a glass transition temperature which is between -20.degree. C. and 20.degree. C. Such polymerizations are normally catalyzed with an organolithium catalyst and are normally carried out in an inert organic solvent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,998 discloses a process for preparing a rubbery terpolymer of styrene, isoprene, and butadiene having multiple glass transition temperatures and having an excellent combination of properties for use in making tire treads which comprises: terpolymerizing styrene, isoprene and 1,3-butadiene in an organic solvent at a temperature of no more than about 40.degree. C. in the presence of (a) at least one member selected from the group consisting of tripiperidino phosphine oxide and alkali metal alkoxides and (b) an organolithium compound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,483 discloses a pneumatic tire having an outer circumferential tread where said tread is a sulfur cured rubber composition comprised of, based on 100 parts by weight rubber (phr), (A) about 10 to about 90 parts by weight of a styrene, isoprene, butadiene terpolymer rubber (SIBR), and (B) about 70 to about 30 weight percent of at least one of cis 1,4-polyisoprene rubber and cis 1,4-polybutadiene rubber wherein said SIBR rubber is comprised of (1) about 10 to about 35 weight percent bound styrene, (2) about 30 to about 50 weight percent bound isoprene and (3) about 30 to about 40 weight percent bound butadiene and is characterized by having a single glass transition temperature (Tg) which is in the range of about -10.degree. C. to about -40.degree. C. and, further the said bound butadiene structure contains about 30 to about 40 percent 1,2-vinyl units, the said bound isoprene structure contains about 10 to about 30 percent 3,4-units, and the sum of the percent 1,2-vinyl units of the bound butadiene and the percent 3,4-units of the bound isoprene is in the range of about 40 to about 70 percent.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/944,669 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,220 discloses a styrene-isoprene-butadiene rubber which is particularly valuable for use in making truck tire treads which exhibit improved rolling resistance and tread wear characteristics, said rubber being comprised of repeat units which are derived from about 5 weight percent to about 20 weight percent styrene, from about 7 weight percent to about 35 weight percent isoprene, and from about 55 weight percent to about 88 weight percent 1,3-butadiene, wherein the repeat units derived from styrene, isoprene and 1,3-butadiene are in essentially random order, wherein from about 25% to about 40% of the repeat units derived from the 1,3-butadiene are of the cis-microstructure, wherein from about 40 % to about 60% of the repeat units derived from the 1,3-butadiene are of the trans-microstructure, wherein from about 5% to about 25% of the repeat units derived from the 1,3-butadiene are of the vinyl-microstructure, wherein from about 75% to about 90% of the repeat units derived from the isoprene are of the 1,4-microstructure, wherein from about 10% to about 25% of the repeat units derived from the isoprene are of the 3,4-microstructure, wherein the rubber has a glass transition temperature which is within the range of about -90.degree. C. to about -70.degree. C., wherein the rubber has a number average molecular weight which is within the range of about 150,000 to about 400,000, wherein the rubber has a weight average molecular weight of about 300,000 to about 800,000, and wherein the rubber has an inhomogeneity which is within the range of about 0.5 to about 1.5.